Drying apparatus



Aug. 25, 1925.

R. HELLMANN DRYING APPARATUS Filed March 1.8, 1924 3 SheebS-Sheet l -ll 11 T mi q v i| l||||||l|lI 1N I /ENTOR www Aug. 25, 1925. 1,551,305

l R. HELLMANN DRYING APPARATUS Filed March 18, 192.4 s sheets-sheet 2 ByC-ff .M ATTORNEY- Aug. 25, 1.925.

Filed March 18, 1924 R. HELLMANN DRYING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 YBYCTLWM /MA A TTORNE Y i shall be thoroughly evaporated 'surfaces of the `fore the bottles are passed to the filling ma- Patented Aug. 25, 1925.

UNITED STATES CPATENT OFFICE.

v RICHARD HELLMANN, OF LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK.

y DRYING APPARATUS.

Application led March 18, 1924. Serial No. 699,969.

their discharge from an automatic washing machine.

In the washing and sterilization of glass bottles or jars in which any edible comL modities are contained, as for instance, mayonnaise dressing, the bottles are arrange in an inverted position in trays, such traysbeing carried and discharged from the `washing chamber by a suitable conveyor. The surfaces ofthe bottles are covered with Water, and it is essential that this water bottles thoroughly dried bechines. The bottles are arranged in the trays in inverted position, and have concave Y -mounted and secured uponthe upper bottom surfaces. Upon these concave surfaces water collects in considerable quantity -cave surfaces of the bottles,

al small .quantity remains to be evaporated v -the angle bars The and heretofore it has been a diiiicult matter to insure the complete evaporation of' this relatively large quantity of water, so that when the bottles leave the drying chamber, the bottom surfaces thereof would be entirely free of water and'thoroughly dry.

It is a prominent .object of my presentimprovements to provide a suitable andi effective means for discharging the` greater' part of this water collecting upon thevco'nso that only by the hot air in the passage of the bottle-- carrying tray At the open end of thebottle,lthe same is provided with'an exteriorly threaded neck to receive'a metal cap and 1t has heretoforealso been a diiiicult matter to entirely free the threads on this neck portion of the bottle from the globules of water collecting thereon. My. present invention provides a very eifective means for accomplishing this result.

A further object of the invention resides fling the rises into the drying chamber and for maining apparatus and in the form, construction .of my d ence characters designate corresponding and the glass 'ing inwardly extending y l n Y as clearly shown in Figure 4 of the drawthrough the drying chamber. 'gu

` .some distance above 'the lower edges in thel provision of improved means for bafthese bars, the

heat from a-series of burners as ittaining a more effective circulation of the hot air and delivering the air under pressure from the dry-ing chamber in two reversely directed streams upon the bottles as the same enter and leave the said chamber,

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the improved dryand relative arrangement ofits several parts asvwillV be hereinafter more fully described and illustrated in the accompanying draW-' ings and subsequently incorporated in the subjoined claims. In the drawings wherein I have illustrated one simple and practical embodiment inventionfand in which similar refer-j parts throughout the several views, Figure 1v is a side-elevation of a drying ap aratus illustrating a preferred construction t ereof. Figure2 is a to-p plan view. Figure v3 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 4 and Figure 4 is a transverse section taken on the line 4-4of :Figure 3. Referringin detail to the drawings, for purposes of illustration I have shown the Y walls of the drying chamber 5, .suitably ends of the vertical frame standards 6. The dry- "8.5 ing chamber includes a top wall 7 and thel side walls 8, said chamber being o en'at its bottom andat the opposite ends t ereof;

Upon the opposite sides of the 'suporting frame longitudinally 'extending angle bars 9 are'suitably mounted, said barshavhorizontal'lalges,

Above these angle bars longitudinally ings.

extending. guide bars 10 arexed to the*A upper ends` of the vertical supportsll Y are :secured t9 the vertical angesov purpose of :these appear from .the

whigh ide lloarslO will clearly following description: l At thegexit endjof the drying chamber' 5 a transversely positioned shaft 12 -is Jour-` 'I naled in Itheframe "structure, said shaft l los carrying suitable sprockets overwhich' the conveyor. chains 13 are engaged.l lItyvlllbe I noted that the'angle bars9 are posltiplld o e ing chamber and.

vside Walls 8l offthe-Ldr fever. the seasonally l Alsposdl flan' es "f '11,'

upperstretches `Qi t e `re-Y spectiveconveyorjcliains 13' move. lThese v chains are 'theufamil'iar" linkv type, certain rof the links being provided with suitable flights 13. These conveyor chains are trained over thevidler sprockets 14:I mounted upon a second transverse shaft journaled in the lower portion .ofthe frame structure, the lower stretches of the chains extending over and being supported by spaced rods indicated at 1.5. These conveyor chains also extend through the chamber of the washing machine (not shown) and move in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figure 3 of the drawing.

On one end of the shaft 12 a second sprocket is secured, whereby said shaft is connected by the driving chain 16 with a similar sprocket fixed upon the power shaft 17. This shaft may be operated by a motor or from any other Aconvenient'source of power.

Additional spaced transverse shafts 18 are mounted in the supporting frame, the said shafts being connected with each other at one of their ends by means of the power transmitting chains 19 whereby the rotation ofthe several shafts 18 in the same direc tion is'obtained. Upon one or more of these shafts 18 spaced arms 20 are fixed at one of their ends, the other ends of said arms' carrying the loosely mounted roll,- ers 21. i

Below the plane of the angle bars 9 a plurality of baiile plates 22 are suitably mounted upon the transversely extending bars 23 secured to the frame structure, said baille plates being spaced from each other longitudinally of the drying chamber. Below each of these baflie plates one or more gas burners 24 of any suitable type are arranged, said burners being connected with a common gas supply pipe 25. The gas flames from the several burners contact with the under sidesl of the baffle plates 22 so that the hot air drawn upwardly by the flames is diverted by the baffle plates and distributed more or less uniformly, so that there will be a substantially equal temperature throughout the length of the drying chamber.

To the opposite ends of the top wall T of the drying chamber the pendant or hanging strips of fabric 26 are attached, said fabric strips or curtains presenting a yieldable barrier at the ends of the chamber` 'so that hot air will be retained therein.

At the entrance end to the drying chamber there is suitably arranged, below the guides 9, a water receiving and discharging trough 27. At the opposite or exit end of said drying chamber a plurality of spaced tray receiving rollers 28 are suitably mounted. The outlet end of a fiat elongated nozzle 29 projects upwardly between adjacent rollers 28 and extends substantially the full length of said rollers, as illustrated in Figures 2 and 4f of the drawings.

nected by the pipe 35 with the drying chamber through the top wall thereof at a point substantially midway between the ends of said chamber. The outlet or discharge pipe 36 from the blower 33 delivers the blast of hot air downwardly in front of the entrance to the drying chamber, as indicated in Figure 1 of the drawings.

The glass bottles or jars, indicated as B, arearranged in inverted position in slat bottom trays T, so that air may freely enter between the bottom slats of the tray through the open ends of the bottles to the interior thereof.. The bottom walls of the glass bottles B have concave exterior surfaces, as indicated in Figure 3 of the drawings. These trays filled with the `Abottles are engaged by the flights 13 of the co-nveyo-r chains 13 and carried thereby, first through the chamber of the washing machine, where the bottles 'are thoroughly washed or cleaned by hot water. chamber, the trays enter one end of the drying chamber, the hanging fabric curtain 26 freely moving inwardly. As the trays enter said chamber, the rollers 21, carried by the arms 20 fixed on theV rotating shaft 18, engage the bottom of the tray, and vertically lift or tilt the same upon the con- 'veyor chains 13. Owing to this vertical tilt of the bottles contained in the trays, the greater quantity of the water which has collected upon the concave bottom surfaces of the bottles is causedy toi drain therefrom, Such water dripping through the bottom of the tray into the discharge trough 27. The

After leaving the washingy speed of travel of the conveyor chains and the speed of rotation of the shafts 18 is in such ratio that the rollers 21 will move beyoud the end of the tray before the flatter has been lifted beyond a predetermined height. As the movement of these rollers continues, the end wall of the tray rides upon said rollers as the lifted end of the tray drops downwardly by gravity to its former position uponjthe conveyor chains. In the illustrated embodiment of my invention after the tray has thus been lifted by the arms 20 on the shaft 18 at the entrance end of the chamber, as the tray passes onward through said chamber,it is again lifted by a second pair of arms 20 secured on shaft 18. It will also be seen that before the trays are wholly within the chamber 18 they are vertically lifted or tilted. At the Sametime, a blast ,ofjhot air-is delivered downwardly through the pipe' upon vthe l 'bottles contained in the tray, sothat this air will impinge upon-the cylindrical surfaces. of' they bottlesv and evaporatev the greater part of they watercontained thereon;

In the, continued ytravel-:of the -lbott-les through the drying chamber, they are subbe evaporated.

`in are finally discharged from thedrying jected to the action "of a very high temperature, so that any water remaining on the concave bottom surfaces ofthe bottles will The trays with the bottles contained there.-

chamber upon'the rollers 28, which are arranged at a downward inclination so that the trays will continue their movement by i -gravity upon .these rollers. At this point,

as the bottles contained in the trays pass Aover the nozzle 29, a blast of hot air isl delivered through said nozzle upwardly "upon'the lower ends of thebottlesand also inner surfaces of the bottles will be eva owithin said'bottles. Thus any wateren-the rated and likewise globules of' water which have collected on the exterior threads of the bottle neck and which may not have been evaporated in the assage'of the lbottles through the drying yc amber will be entirely evaporated by this upwardly discharged hot air current.

' 'if #From the foregoing description it will beapparent that I have devised an Aappa-v Jratus whereby the quick and thorough dryinterruption of their continued movement after leaving the washingy chamber will be ing o fall surfaces of the bottles, without "assured, It is of primary `importance in water. shallbecome incorporated with the the vending of many-commodities, that no material when the bottles or jars are' filled. This is vparticularly true of mayonnaise dressing. However, it is clear that my presl ent im rovements might be 'advantageously/` utiliz for the purposeof drying bottles or containers of other` forms, shapes 'orfsiz'es` and designed for the vending of other commodities and food materials.. It is also to 'be understood that Aany desired number of ,tray-tilting devices might he `-utilized andv that the drying chamberthrough -which the trays pass may be of-other proportions than those indicated in the drawings. Further, the apparatus asherein .described is lsu'sce'ptible of embodiment in various other alter- -native structures and'. accordingly Vthe v privilege is' reserved of resorting to all suchv legitimate chan es in the form and relative 6"0 -arran ement o the several` partsA as 'may be em odied within the spirit and scope' of the appended claims. I-claim: y, v s '1: In a drying apparatus, 'a drying chamber, a conveyor for moving bottle-'carryingv trays throughsaid chamber,and means for 'I lSaid chamber.

v 7. In a drying apparatus, a drying cham.` 1 .l ber, a conve or forl moving Slatbottom Y vertically Ielevating the trays ,and tilting them upward on the said conveyor during ktheir passage through the drying chamber to allow fluid on top ends of the bottles carried by the trays-"to drain therefrom. v

2. In a dryingapparatus, a drying chamber, a conveyor for movingvbottle-carrying trays' through said chamber, means for ver.-

tically elevating the trays and tilting them "upward on said conveyor during their passage through the drying ,chamber .and means for directing 'a blast of hot air upon 'the tion upon the conveyor. v j

3x1-n a drying apparatus, a drying chamber, a conveyor .for moving bottle-carrying trays through said chamber, means for vertically tilting the trays while they are upon the conveyor, means for directing a blast of v hot air downwardly .upon the bottles at the .bottles while. thetrays arev in agtilted posientrance to the drying chamber, and additional means for directing a. blast of hot air -.upwardly upon the bottles at the egress end ytles at their entrance to the drying chamber,

and an yadditional blower connected to said chamber to direct a blast of hot air upward- 1y upon the bottles at the egress end 'of said' chamber. e'

5. In a drying apparatus, a drying chamber, and means for supplying hot air to said chamber, a conveyor, forA moving bottlecarrying trays throu hsaid chamber, a blower connected' to t e chamber to with'- ldraw hot air therefrom and direct the same, 'under pressure, downwardly upon the b ottles at their entrance tothe drying chamber.'

and means forl vertically tilting the trays during their movement throug'hthe drying Y chamber. f

-6. In' a drying apparatus, a drying chamber, and means` for supplying hot air to said chamber, a conveyor -for 'moving bottle- ,carrying trays 'through said chamber, a lblower connected to the chamber to withdraw hot.' air therefromand direct the same, under pressure, downwardly upon thebotw tles at their entrance to'lthe drying chamber, and spaced continuously operating devices to engage each tray and vertically tilt g the s amje-fon the conveyor a plurality/ of times in the movement ofthe tray throughv trays, having ottles-arran ed therein in inl I verted position through saiv chamber, means fOr'V'erffiCa-lly tilting the trays-'upon the con- 130 veyor-at the entrance to said chamber to. discharge excess water from the bottom Sur- `faces of the bottles, a plurality of burners arranged below the" c'onveyor, and 'a series of spaced, balles for baling the hot air from said burners and directing the same upwardly throughthe bottom of the trays into contact with the bottles.

8. In a drying apparatusxa drying chamber, a conveyor for moving Slat-bottom trays, having bottles arran ed therein in inverted `position through sai chamber, means vforyertically tiltingI the trays upon'the con-- veyor at the entrance to said chamber to fix-,551,305

an additional blower connected to said chamber to direct a-blast of hotair upwardl ly through the'trays and upon the bottles at the egress endof said chamber.

In .testimony that he claims the foregoing as his invention, and has signed his name 25 hereto.

RICHARD HELLMANN. I 

